No Longer Masked
by Crescental
Summary: Peter Parker's reputation as Spider-man is growing rapidly, but will that get him in trouble when he gains two powerful enemies that threaten his life, family, and friends?
1. Still Spider-man

**Note: the chapters for the story were all messed up so I had to reorganize that :P**

**Some of the paragraphs are the same scenes from the third Spider-man movie, so if you remember the scene just skip the paragraph :)**

**This takes place after the Amazing Spider-man.**

**Spider-Man, villains, and other characters are the property of Marvel Comics, they don't belong to me**

Flint Marco sprinted as fast as he could to get away from the crazed dogs that followed his scent, barking louder as they got closer to him. He smacked the fence the trapped him inside the mourning jail. Marco leaned on it for a breather, but the violent barks of dogs snapped him up the fence. The pain of the barb-wire burned his hand as he hit the cold, dead grass. He continued to run. When the barks softened, he paused and turned around to see the fence he climbed a long ways away. He walked backwards and suddenly his foot felt nothing underneath, and he fell into a cemented pit with blue and white pillars that hovered above a circle of sand. Curious, he entered the circle, and the pillars began to spin rapidly. The grains of sand pelted his soft skin, and his body merged with the sand. When the machine stopped spinning, Flint Marco was gone.

Peter Parker laid motionless in his bed. His mind was filled with the harsh images of Captain Stacy bleeding to death and saying his last words to Peter. The Lizard almost killing him. And he saw Gwen and Aunt May, dying because of him.

At the loud beep of his alarm clock, his body jerked, and his hand whacked it, unintentionally breaking it. His eyes opened to a slit, just wide enough to see the smashed alarm clock.

"Oh great!" he muttered. Peter sluggishly got out of bed, got dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning, Peter!" Aunt May said with a welcoming smile and a piece of waffle on her fork at the table. " I made you waffles."

"Thanks, Aunt May," Peter said tiredly, pulling a chair out from it's hiding place. Peter slowly ate his waffles and forgot he had school that day. His dream had shaken him, and painfully reminded him that it had been four months since he fought the lizard, four months since Captain Stacy died... Peter still felt horrible because of it, and Aunt May could tell he was troubled.

"What's wrong, Peter?" Aunt May asked kindly, looking at him in the eye. Peter couldn't tell her that he was Spider-man, and he felt responsible for someone's death so he gave her a sheepish smile and said, "I, uh... broke my alarm clock again.."

"Again, Peter!? How do you break an alarm clock, it's a frickin machine!?" Peter shrugged and gave her another sheepish smile. Aunt May returned a puzzled look; then abruptly shook her head and said, "Well, we'll have to discuss this later. If you don't hurry now you'll miss the bus." Peter's gaze moved to the clock on the wall across from him. He only had ten minutes left! He put his plate in the sink and got ready for school. He said bye to Aunt May then went out the door.

He was a block away from the the bus stop when the bus was picking the kids up. Peter started to sprint towards it as it drove away. He caught up to it in seconds flat. The driver stopped to let Peter on. He didn't have to deal with the usual bullying crap he had to go through before he stood up to Flash in the gym and became friends with him. Only a few kids still bullied him. The bus driver continued toward the school.

* * *

Peter entered the school filled with the babbles of teens and searched the area for Gwen. He hadn't talked to her recently, and he needed to. He now knew he couldn't keep the promise he made to Captain Stacy because her knowing that he was Spider-man put her at risk, and he felt he needed, wanted, to protect her. He loved Gwen, and he could not stay away from her any longer. After several sharp wipes across the room, he didn't see Gwen, so he pushed his way through the kids to get to his locker. He grabbed his stuff for class.

Time flew by in Peter's classes. When he got to the class he had with Gwen, his body tensed, but he felt confident. He entered the room, early for once, and sat behind Gwen like he usually did. In the spare time he had before the bell started class, he tapped Gwen's shoulder. She whipped her head around, and her eyes questioned him.

"Look, Gwen, I can't keep the promise I made to your dad. Can you come to the prom with me in three weeks?" Gwen began to smile and nod, but his spider-sense blazed. He slightly shifted his body to the right and forcefully tilted Gwen's shoulder and head too, to see a small spit ball fly by. Peter turned around to see one of the few kids that bullied him. He was a tall, pudgy boy with blonde hair and a red plaid shirt, and he laughed, not noticing he missed Peter.

"Awww, Petey's trying to ask Gwen out!" He said in a immature voice, still laughing. Gwen gave him a very sharp look like he was the prey she was about to take down, which made a puzzled look go upon his face.

Gwen turned back to Peter and smiled at him again and happily said, "Thank you, Peter. I'll go to the prom with you."

At her last word, the bell rung; Gwen gave him one more big smile and turned to the arrival of their teacher. Class begun, and they both felt better than ever.

In the cemented pit, the pile of sand began to move. Slowly, it formed the body of a man, waist up. He lifted his arm and flexed his fingers which made all of them break. The sand around him restored them to normal. Slowly, he stood and stuttered with each step toward the side of the pit, his legs sometimes collapsed. Soon, he was able to control the sand so his limbs did not break, and he could change his appearance to his old image, brown hair, jeans, and green striped shirt. He picked up the necklace with the picture of his daughter he dropped, and he climbed out of the pit, with his new body.

After school ended, Peter walked down the street, away from the school, and turned into an alley. He climbed up the wall and stood on the roof. He stripped of his jacket, pants, and shoes to reveal his Spider-man costume. He hung his backpack, with his clothes, over his shoulder, placed his mask over his head, and swung above the city streets.

"Alright Manhattan, what crimes can you offer me tonight?" He swung into the street at his right where a robbery alarm rang; Marco stood there, with his usual green-stripped short sleeve shirt, jeans, and brown hair, with the money in one arm and sand spewing out of his other hand.

"Okay, I must of finally went insane," Spider-man thought. He went on a roof near the bank and placed his backpack down. He went a little lower down the building, still unseen, to web his camera to the side and soon get pictures of the fight he was about to have. Spider-man jumped and webbed a building, swinging towards him. He plowed his feet into Marco's back, but his feet went through his body and the sand around them hardened. Spider-man fell to the ground but leaned on his elbows. He quickly did a handstand, which plucked Marco off the ground, and Spider-man smashed him into the ground behind him. He flipped to his feet and stared at the pile of sand. It quickly reformed to the body of a man and regained the image of Flint Marco. Seeing that he couldn't leave with the money, he seeped into the sewer drain right next to him. The sound of police sirens echoed, and Spider-man swung up to the roof to grab his bag and camera. He swung a long ways away from the bank and dropped into an alley. He put on his jacket, pants, and shoes, and he placed his mask in his bag. Peter left the alley and walked towards his house. When he was almost there, he spider-sense tingled. He looked behind him and saw a man in a brown jacket, dark jeans, and messy brown hair duck into an alley. Swiftly, Peter turned into an alley too and climbed to the roof. Once more, he changed into his Spider-man costume and peeked into the alley the man was in. He stuck a web to his back and pulled him up towards him.

"Ahhh!" He yelped from surprise. He turned his head and looked right at Spider-man, his eyes filled with shock.

"Why are you following Parker?" Spider-man said, holding him up to his face.

"I-I'm getting paid to!" He said frantically.

"Well tell your boss to knock it off!" Then Spider-man lowered him a bit but left him hanging. He walked over to his bag and put his normal clothes back on again. He descended down the wall and then continued toward home. He heard the man shout wait, but then he heard him struggle to get out of the webs.

* * *

On Saturday, Peter entered the Daily Bugle, with his printed pictures, and went to the top floor where Jameson's office was. About two weeks after the Lizard incident, Peter got the job from Jameson to take pictures of Spider-man fighting, so it was an easy way to help Aunt May with bills. He walked over to Betty, with a gray shirt and short black hair, and asked her to let him into Jameson's office. Inside, Jameson was talking to the same guy that followed Peter earlier.

"Mac Gargan what I'm I paying you for!?" Jameson yelled in his usual loud voice.

"Uh... Excuse me, Mr. Jameson ?" Peter said quickly, his words turned Jameson around, "I got pictures." He pulled out the group of pictures he printed and held them up so Jameson could grab them. He glanced over at Mac standing in the corner of the room, looking impatient, frantic, and angry. Jameson took the pics from Peter and hastily flipped through them, "Trash, trash, trash.. I'll pay you 200."

"Why only 200?" Peter asked, grabbing the receipt Jameson wrote.

"Cause' kid the only action is Spider-man's feet stuck in that guy's stomach." Jameson paused and then bursted suddenly with a bunch of excitement packed in his voice, "I'll call this guy the Sandman! He'll be another money making villain! Just like Spider-man! Now go away kid, you got your money." Jameson flicked his free hand towards the door, indicating Peter should leave, so he did.

"Now what were you whining about, Mac?" Jameson asked.

"Spider-man's on to me! He humiliated and hung me when he found me following Parker!"

"Then," Jameson placed his hand on Mac's right shoulder and stared out the window across the room, and looked at Mac again, "Why don't we get back at him?" Mac gave him a nervous nod and a dark smile, "But how?"

"I got a guy, Dr. Farley Stillwell, he'll have just the thing."

"How much?"

"More money than you can handle."

"When?" Mac's smile getting bigger.

"Come here, this Thursday afternoon, and I'll take you to him." Mac nodded then left the room.

**That's it, hope you enjoyed and please review :3**


	2. Rage

**Enjoy :D**

**Spider-Man, villains, and other characters are the property of Marvel Comics, they don't belong to me**

* * *

The next few days sped by like normal, for once. Peter hadn't seen the Sandman at all, only pitiful criminals. But on Thursday night, Peter encountered another monster.

Spider-man swung across the city. The familiar sharp pain at the base of his neck made him unhook his web shooter, from the web he was using to swing, and bend his head backward. A huge, green, robotic tail shot past his face but quickly returned to the roof of the building. Spider-man quickly shot another web to a tall building across the street and landed on its side. He twisted his head back towards the brick building and saw a tall, buff man, with skin that had a pale green glow, in a bright neon green, humanoid scorpion suit.

"Another monster?" Peter thought, "Just where do they come from?" He shot a web to the same building the man was on and swung towards it. He gained enough momentum to swing above the building and land on the roof. He stood across from the man like two cowboys facing each other in a duel. His robotic tail, with the stinger on the end, leaped towards Spider-man; his spider-sense blazed at him again so he leaned far back as if he was limboing. He stood back up once the tail went back to the man.

"Woah, watch it bud! You could've cut me in half!" The man growled and continuously launched attacks, which Spider-man dodged with ease by leaning back and forth, limboing, and doing frontflips and backflips.

"Hey, calm down! What have I ever done to you!?" Spider-man said nonchalantly while still dodging his rapid attacks.

"You humiliated me!" He yelled with such force the air around them vibrated and his tail was able to coil around Spider-man's waist. He grunted and hovered above the roof and was yanked right up to his face surrounded by the neon green suit.

"What or, who are you?" Spider-man demanded and squirmed.

"The Scorpion!" He barked, but then he began to tremble, dropping Spider-man. He landed on his feet and backflipped away from the Scorpion. His hands gripped his face which grew a slightly darker shade of green. He yelled to the sky and jumped off the roof. When Spider-man peaked over the side of the building, the street was barren and the Scorpion was gone.

* * *

The Scorpion sprinted toward the Daily Bugle. Once the building was in sight, he thought of charging straight in there to give Jameson a piece of his mind, but he hesitated and decided to give him a private lesson. He waited in a nearby alley. In a few hours, Jameson, wearing a brown leather jacket and jeans, walked out the door. The Scorpion climbed up the building to his left and jumped off the roof. He slammed into Jameson and quickly pulled him into another alley, still unseen. One hand was secured around Jameson's waist, pinning him to the brick wall; his other hand was inches away from his face.

"Mac!?" Jameson said, clearly startled and scared. "You're supposed to be hunting Spider-man!

"You're not in the position to tell me what to do!" The Scorpion shouted, his voice hoarse. He slowly touched Jameson's cheek with the sharp tip of his finger, leaving a path of scarlet blood.

"Turn me back to normal!" He screamed; his hand pressed harder.

"Okay,Okay! I'll t-take you to the Doctor!" The Scorpion removed his hand from his waist and let him fall to the ground. Jameson swiftly got back up and peeked out of the alley. The sun just began to hide at the horizon, and the street was still barren. He hastily left the alley, and the Scorpion followed.

They stood in front of the abandoned building that the laboratory was in. Inside pieces of wood laid on the floor, the ceiling was tilted, and cobwebs were everywhere which made the Scorpion growl in anger. They walked up the creaky stairs and got to the floor where the Doctor stood, working on his experiment. When the Scorpion's eyes laid on him, he charged. The whole building seemed to shake. He picked him up and pinned him against the grey wall. He got in the same position he was in when he threatened Jameson, one hand pinned him against the wall except the other was on front of the Doctor's heart.

"Cure me!" His voice filled with so much power that his salvia decorated the Doctor's face.

"I-it's not possible," The Scorpion snarled and he hastily continued," I haven't fully developed the equipment necessary!" His insanity and anger finally overflowed. His hand jerked, and dug through his heart. The Doctor's body collapsed to the floor. Blood seeped out of his body, and spread across the floor.

"My God! Mac, What have you done!" Jameson screamed. The Scorpion turned to face Jameson, his eyes glowed red. His voice was rough and violent; it stabbed Jameson's ears,

"You did this to me!" He charged at him again. Jameson's eyes grew wide in terror and his body worked on it's own. He sprinted down the old wooden stairs and heard a loud creak, then a loud crash. He peered back behind him and saw that the stairs broke and the Scorpion fell through it, but he continued to run. He made it out the door and ran down the street, calling out for help. But his back suddenly felt like it had gotten struck by an anchor, and he was pushed into an alley, once again pinned against the wall.

"Mac, please!" Jameson begged, but the Scorpion's fist plummeted towards his face.

* * *

The Scorpions fist plummeted towards Jameson's face. His hand suddenly stopped, centimeters away from him. The Scorpion's head jerked to his right to see Spider-man, crouching on the side of the brick building. His left hand was placed on front of his legs, and his right hand was stretched out, attached to the web that grasped the Scorpion's elbow and crawled up his bent arm. Spider-man yanked his hand back to him to get his fist away from Jameson. The Scorpion growled darkly and faced Spider-man; his eyes filled with rage.

"If it weren't for him, I wouldn't of changed!" his mind screamed. He let go of Jameson's waist, who fell to the ground and landed on his butt. He jumped on the same wall, and charged at Spider-man. He jumped over the Scorpions head at the right moment and swung towards Jameson, picked him up, threw him on his back, and scaled up the wall. The Scorpion stopped abruptly and jumped off the wall too, charging at the two again. He latched onto the wall and grabbed his foot, but Spider-man quickly balanced Jameson so he wouldn't fall, and shot the Scorpion in the face, making him fall to make a crater in the cement. Spider-man continued to climb and asked Jameson, "Okay, Mr-" He remembered that saying Mr. Jameson could blow his cover, so he started over,"Okay, Jameson, where do you live?"

"I'm not telling you where I live!" Jameson argued, but gasped. Spider-man heard chunks of brick fall to the ground underneath him, and the loud and violent huffs and snarls that beat up the Scorpion's mouth and escaped his lips.

"Are you sure!?" Spider-man asked, still climbing up the wall.

"Fine!"Jameson snapped. Spider-man snickered, "That's the way to go, pops!" Jameson gave him the evil eye, though he couldn't see, and said the location of this house. He reached the roof and automatically started to run towards the direction of his house. Jameson tightly held onto Spider-mans shoulders as he leaped off the building and swung over the streets.


	3. Deadly Allies

**Enjoy,**

**Spider-Man, villains, and other characters are the property of Marvel Comics, they don't belong to me**

The Scorpion punched the curved cement wall of the sewer from frustration of not being able to kill Jameson or Spider-man. After multiple punches, one after another, he left his hand in the crater he created. He listened to the sounds around him. The running water, water droplets hitting the ground, squeaks from rats, and he could hear sand hitting against the cement, drawing closer and closer to him. He walked in the direction of it, prepared to face whatever it was, but he was surprised to see a tall, broad man, in jeans and a green striped shirt.

He charged, taking the leftover anger on the man. When the Scorpion struck him, his body split into two. The top flew into the air, landing a few feet away from the legs. The Scorpion, standing between the two parts, stared, confused, because no blood came out of the body. It quickly disintegrated to a pile sand, as did the bottom. The heap of sand that had formed the legs, skittered across the floor to the other pile of sand. It rebuilt the form of a man and then regained the image of him, the brown hair, the jeans, the short-sleeved green shirt, and the shoes. The Scorpion charged again; he picked him up by the waist and pinned him against the wall, being careful not to break the body.

"What are you doing here?" He screamed, placing his other hand around the Sandman's neck, though it wouldn't do any good. But he just stared at him, like he didn't even care.

"What are you doing here!?" The Scorpion repeated with more force, the air around them seemed to vibrate. He waited a moment before replying with a thick blanket of sadness coating his voice, "I failed." The Scorpion stared, not understanding what he meant.

"How did you fail?" He asked; it still had the same roughness as when he yelled but it had no force. The Sandman looked at the curved cement ceiling for a while and for a second, his face contorted with anger.

"Spider-man." He whispered, and a deadly, evil smirk wiped itself on the Scorpion's face.

* * *

Spider-man glided over the busy streets, doing his usual twists, turns, and flips. The moon, huge in the endless sky, was big like a person's mouth when screaming, gaping. He swung into an empty street, and continuously looped between the skyscrapers for a while. He lowered a little, and his spider sense blazed. He looked to his left, nothing but a dark alley, then he looked to his right, and he saw a huge clump of sand flying towards him. It clamped around his body and turned to sand stone, not enabling Spider-man to escape. He whacked the road, hard. His breathing thinned, from the impact and the rock. He tried to break the stone, but failed. It got harder and harder to breath. His vision got darker, and he heard a happy yet evil snicker. A bright green figure approached him. Though his vision was blurry he recognized the man immediately, the Scorpion.

"Nice job, Sandman." He said while crouching to get at Spider-man's level. He punched him on the chin, making Spider-man more dazed. He snickered again.

"Do you have the camera?" A head formed out of the rock that binded Spider-man.

"The camera?" It spoke, tilting its head slightly like a cat when curious.

"Yes the camera!" The Scorpion screamed. The Sandman shook his head. He yelled in frustration, and threw another punch at Spider-man, this one on the cheek. He felt a hand on the top of his head, grabbing the top of his mask. Spider-man froze, his heart beating rapidly. His enemies were about to find out his identity, and he couldn't do anything. He felt the spandex peel off his neck and slowly climb up his cheek, his sweat holding it down.

"Hey!" An unidentifiable person yelled from a distance, "Someone call the police!" The Scorpion screamed in anger and yanked the rest of his mask off, revealing Peter Parker's bruised face. The Scorpion smiled in delight; the Sandman emotionless. He dropped Spider-man's mask on the cement, and they fled into an alley. Spider-man gasped and went on his hands and knees. His heart still thumping rapidly. He coughed repeatedly and heard footsteps approach him. He swiftly picked up his mask and put it on it's rightful place. He swung towards home, and he heard the crowd of astonished people, watch him swing away.

* * *

After getting attacked by the Sandman and the Scorpion, Peter still went out as Spider-man every night but was extra conscious. A couple days passed and it was already time for the school prom. Peter waited all Saturday, going at as Spider-man and doing justice. When it turned to the evening he swung home.

He delicately put on his tuxedo because it was Uncle Ben's when he was Peter's age. He whipped the comb through his hair and sprayed on light cologne. He was ready for prom. He cluttered down the wooden stairs with his glossy shoes, and saw Aunt May, standing by the door, smiling at him, her eyes shiny with joyful, small tears. She was obviously trying not to cry.

"Oh, Peter," she said happily, hugging him when he was close enough to her,"You remind me so much of your uncle." She let go of him, and stared up into his eyes.

"You take care of that tux, you hear'?"

"Of course I will," Peter said, "It was Uncle Ben's after all." He added quietly. Aunt may just returned a sad, yet happy smile.

"Be safe, and here are the keys to the car. Don't wreck it or you're dead." Peter smiled again, hugged her one last time and walked out the door.

Peter drove down the busy street, looking in his mirrors and peaking out the window every once in awhile. He went to the apartment building where Gwen's house was, and she waited in the front, a huge grin on face. She wore a thin sky blue dress that stopped at her knee. She climbed into the small gray car. They eventually reached the school. He parked in front of it and they headed toward the entrance, a bunch of other students on the sidewalk as well, like a trail of ants. They went inside the school,arms locked together, walked down the hallway, and turned into the courtyard, the place where Flash had beaten Peter up and another kid. Lights were strewn everywhere, decorating the black sky, and they hung onto the trees. A table with lots of food sat at the end of the courtyard, and a huge stereo on a table was at the right of the courtyard. Peter and Gwen joined the dancing clump and slowed danced for a while. They both had a huge grin on their face that wouldn't go away, but Peter looked to his right, up at the school roof, and saw The Sandman and the Scorpion watching him. His heart stopped.

* * *

Peter stared at the Sandman, the sand wasn't colored with the image of Flint Marco, and The Scorpion, evilly grinning at them.

"What's wrong, Peter?" Gwen asked. When Peter, didn't answer, she followed his gaze, and saw the two monsters. She gasped, "What are they doing here?"She said more quietly, clearly scared. Peter gulped, "They pulled off my mask the other day, saw my, face." Peter talked sluggishly, his heart beating rapidly. Realization struck Peter, "Gwen, you need to get out of here," Gwen looked back at him, "They haven't attacked me the last few days because they were waiting to see who I cared about, so they could hurt me even more," Peter gulped again and added, "By hurting you." The thought of Aunt May came through his mind. His eyes grew wide and he began to tremble. He looked back at Gwen and said, "Aunt May, I left her at the house, alone." Gwen looked even more frightened. "What if they kill her?" He thought. His spider-sense blazed, gasps and screams erupted from the surrounding crowd. Peter pushed Gwen away and was struck hard. He hit the ground and gasped. He heard Gwen scream his name, and he felt all of the students and teachers eyes on him. Him, laying on the cold cement, a large green hand around his torso, and another green hand pointed to his face. Peter heard the clicks and rings of cell phones turning on, and people shouting and dialing 911. He heard Gwen scream again; the Sandman had pulled her towards him, locking his arms and legs to hers and hardening them to stone. Gwen was trapped too. The Scorpion drew his finger across his cheek and snickered. The line of scarlet blood dripped down his left cheek.

"What are you going to do Spider-man?" The Scorpion whispered in his ear, so quietly only he could hear, "You don't want to spoil your identity, right?" He snickered again. The Scorpion slid his hand down his tuxedo, revealing the top of his Spider-man costume. He grinned. Peter kicked the Scorpion on the stomach. He flipped onto his feet as the Scorpion stagggered back and growled at him. The crowd gasped. Police sirens came into their hearing. The Scorpion yelled in frustration. The Sandman got let go of Gwen. The Scorpion jumped over the fence, and the Sandman went right through it, leaving the astonished and scared crowd. Peter immediately went to Gwen, sitting on her knees and rubbing her limbs. She gave him a smile, "I'm alright, but Peter," she pointed to the tear in his tuxedo. They were in the back of the courtyard, so everyone could see the Spider-man costume in between the tear. Flash was the first one to talk, "Peter, you're Spider-man!" Peter gulped and clutched the tear so no one could see it any more. The loud footsteps of police broke the silence.

Peter managed to keep the tear closed with his hand when the police were there inspecting what had happened. They asked Peter why they attacked him and he said he didn't know. When the police left, all of the students and teachers were still there. They all turned their eyes back to Peter, Gwen stood right next to him. They had a circle of space around them, but it broke once Flash stood right in Peter's face.

"Parker! Are you or are you not, Spider-man?" He shouted, demanding. All the other students seemed to take a step forward, closer to Peter and Gwen. A grim smile wiped itself on Peter's face. He took Gwen's hand and pulled her towards the inside of the school to flee to the car, leaving the crowd confused.

"So, what are you going to do?" Gwen asked Peter. The drive to Gwen's house seemed to take forever.

"I guess, to go to school like I normally do. Though, there will be a lot of questions." Peter said tiredly. They drove in silence for a while. Peter pulled to a stop. Gwen got out, her dress covered in bits of sand. She turned back to face Peter; she bent her back to look him in the eye.

"Everything will be ok." She said. Peter nodded and returned a light smile. She smiled back and closed the car door. He drove home, hoping Aunt May was okay.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed, please review :D**


	4. It's No Big Deal

**Spider-Man, villains, and other characters are the property of Marvel Comics, they don't belong to me**

* * *

Spider-Man, villains, and other characters are the property of Marvel Comics, they don't belong to me

The week had gone terrible for Peter Parker. His enemies found out his identity, his school may have learned his secret, he got attacked at prom, and when he got back from it, the apartment he lived in was on fire. Firefighters surrounded the building. He walked up to a firefighter, still clutching the tear on his tuxedo close.

"Is anyone still in there?" He asked desperately.

"Yes, but some other firefighters are already in there, they'll come out soon." At his words, two firefighters came out, holding the shoulders of Aunt May.

"Aunt May!" Peter ran towards her.

"Oh, thank god, Peter," she hugged him, "I heard about the incident at the school, are you okay?"

"Am I okay, what about you?" A firefighter then handed Aunt May a mask. She breathed in it and her voice cleared up when she spoke, "Yes, I'm fine."

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Aunt May turned around to face the man behind her. "Could you tell us what happened?"

"Well, the doorbell rang and I went to answer it, but no one was there. When I turned around the house was on fire."

"Were you cooking anything?" The firefighter asked, clearly curious about her explanation. Aunt May shook her head.

"Well, thank you anyway ma'am." He told her of the house's condition saying it was fine, and told her other things. Peter was lost in thought; he felt nausea.

The firefighters went to their red truck and drove away. Aunt May turned back to face Peter.

"Peter, are you alright?" The other people that lived in the apartment had already started heading inside, but Aunt May and Peter hadn't moved. Peter didn't say anything.

"For god's sake, look at me!" She turned Peter to face her, her eyes landed on the cut on his face. "What happened at the school?" Her eyes then went to his hand clutching the tear, "If something happened to the tuxedo, I don't care." She pulled his hand off of the tear, and she saw the red and the webs of the Spider-man costume. Shock filled her face, then with sadness.

"Come inside with me, now." Aunt May demanded, pulling Peter with her to the door of their house.

The inside really was fine as the firefighter had said. Only bits of the wall were burnt, nothing paint couldn't fix, though some of the furniture was gone. They stopped at the place their kitchen table used to be. Aunt May harshey unbuttoned the rest of the tuxedo top and yanked it off. The top of the Spider-man costume was visible.

"Take off your pants, Peter." Peter was about to say something, but Aunt May repeated herself, "Take them off." When the pants were off, the full costume was visible, except the mask.

"Where's the mask?" She asked, a sob escaped her voice. Peter looked hurt; he walked over to the shirt of his tuxedo on the wooden floor, kneeled down, and slowly pulled out the mask from the pocket. He stood up and faced her. A tear ran down her cheek.

"Why, Peter?" He looked away, he didn't know what to say. Another sob came from Aunt May, Peter turned, multiple tears were running down her cheek.

"Is that why you're so hurt when you come home?" Peter solemnly nodded. Aunt May walked up to him and then hugged him.

"Oh, Peter." Aunt May whispered, sobbing. He hugged her back; they stood there all night.

* * *

Peter skipped school on Monday. He needed the time to think about school and his issue, and he needed to help Aunt May pick out new furniture to replace the ones that got burnt.

He took the bus to school the next day. When he got on it, everyone went quiet and stared at him, except the bus driver. Even the kids who weren't at the prom stared, the kids that were there must have spread rumors. He gulped, there was so much tension in the air. Peter had a hard time finding a seat too. Though the chatter slowly returned, they all still stared at him, even when he sat down, until they got to the school.

Throughout the school day, kids went silent when he was in the area. Most would whisper to each other and stare, others would just come right out and ask, "Are you Spider-man?" The people that used to bully him would stare too, or they would throw a punch at him, which Peter avoided with ease. He guessed it was because they just couldn't take the fact he might be, and was, Spider-man, so they just wanted to prove they were tougher or that others were just spreading more false gossip. Luckily, the teachers acted like they normally did, only looking at Peter, and the rest of the class, to see if his hand was raised. Lunch was awful too. Gwen sat by him for support because every single eye was on him. She gave Peter several smiles to lighten the mood; she tried to start a regular conversation too, but failed. When the final bell struck, he was so relieved to finally walk out the school doors. He made it halfway down the broad walkway, engulfed in the swarm of students walking to their car or their bus, but the sound of Flash's voice halted him to a stop.

"Yo! Parker!" Flash touched Peter's shoulders a few seconds later, "We need to talk." Peter tried to sound calm, but the uneasiness in his voice was clear, "I-I can't Flash, I'll miss the bus."

"But this is urgent." He argued. Peter then realized there was a tight circle around him, a circle of Flash's friends, blending in with the crowd of people surrounding them, blocking his escape.

"Parker, we ride the same bus! I can drive you home, so, are you sure you don't have time for this one small thing?" Peter didn't know what to do, but was left with no option when he heard the huffing of his bus. It was driving away, as was all the other buses and cars. He was alone with Flash and his gang.

* * *

"What do you want Flash?" Peter shouted to the group that surrounded him.

"We just want the truth," Peter gulped, "Are you Spider-man?"

"You serious!?" Peter said, "I had to go through this all day, Flash! You really think I'll give you a different answer!? You're making this too much of a problem!"

"Well, Parker, that's why we chose to do this after school, so no one can stop us from getting the truth! I look up to Spider-man! And if he's you, this little geek! I'll..." He stopped and shrugged, "I don't know."

"Alright then," Peter said angrily, "How do you plan on making me say the truth?" Peter used his fingers for quotations around the word truth and said it with disgust.

"By making you do something only Spider-man can do." Peter raised an eyebrow, questioning him. Flash pulled his backpack off his back, unzipped it, and pulled out a small pistol. Peter saw that it was an airsoft gun, luckily. He wondered how he didn't get caught with that thing. The rest of Flash's group pulled out a pistol as well.

"Seriously!? But weren't we buds? For a little while!?" Peter shouted. "How is no one seeing this!" He thought, "Someone help! Please!"

"I need to know Pete, that's all that matters right now." He put up his hands, signaling his buds to spread out a bit, and he counted down to one from three, and said now. At once, all the beebes in the pistols came out. Peter's spider-sense blazed. He didn't want to deal with this anymore.

"So what if a few people knew?" He told himself, "I'll convince them not to tell anyone else. I'll fight through this." He dodged the plastic, speeding bullets. He quickly moved to the right and left and dodged every bullet. He heard some of Flash's crew shout ow and shit. Flash looked at him with surprise, but not as much surprise as Peter thought he would have. Peter smirked and taunted Flash, his anger catching up to him, "You sort of missed me." Flash signaled his group to fire again but only a few did. Peter once again dodged them with ease. Flash started to back away, as did the rest of the group, slowly raising his hands.

"Fine, that's just fine. I got all the proof I need. I finally know my hero's true face." He put his pistol away, his crew did too.

"Alright, Flash. What do you plan to do bout' it? You can't just tell everyone that. It'll put everyone in danger!" Peter ignored the rest of crew, talking solely to Flash, putting his anger on him.

"People need to know who, what's, around them. You could be a threat, even after all you've done for the city. You could turn your motives at any moment. Be a killing machine and look only for revenge, like the two that keep attacking you." Peter looked at the ground, "Only the students will know, I swear it. They won't spread the word. I mean, your life would be ruined if the whole world knew." Peter spider-sense tingled. "Oh man there's a camera! How could I not notice it!" Peter yelled at himself. He looked over at the bush that was bordering the sidewalk; he saw the smallest shine from the corner of the camera lens, reflecting the bright sun. Flash smiled, seeing that Peter noticed the camera; he walked over to the bush, pulling it out.

"Don't worry, Spider-man, it's all under control."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review :3**


	5. I'm Done

Spider-Man, villains, and other characters are the property of Marvel Comics, they don't belong to me

* * *

After that night, Peter missed two days of school. He told Aunt May what had happened and she had said, "Oh my, that's a little drastic. I'll let you miss the next few days, but then you have to go to school. Face them head on, and do the best you can." He was glad Aunt May understood and supported him, even though she didn't fully like the idea of him being Spider-man. Her words replayed in his head as he entered the school grounds. He felt all eyes on him. There were more whispers as he walked through the crowd. Flash had sent the video to the students, he knew it. "Why didn't I break the camera! Ugh! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He screamed at himself. Aunt May's words replayed in his mind, "Face them head on." And with that, he felt more determined. He went straight to his locker and ignored the stares and whispers. The tension in the air was even more tense than when he went to school the other day. People didn't throw punches at him. This time, they knew he was Spider-man. Some of the girls gave him a light smile or even asked him out, which he replied with, "I have a girlfriend."

Flash apparently kept his word because the teachers didn't stare at Peter. He was sure that if some of the teachers knew he was Spider-man, they would immediately call the cops. Gwen, like last time, comforted him and sat with him at lunch. When the final bell struck, relief consumed him; he was the first person out the school doors. A loud and aggressive roar erupted. Peter covered his ears as did the rest of the students. He recognized the roar, the Scorpion. "Why won't they leave me alone!" Peter thought. The students behind him ran to their cars in the parking lot to the right and the school buses that were out of sight, being parked to the left of the school, and not being able to see due to the trees. Peter, however, stood still. He quickly uncovered his ears and looked everywhere around him to see where the two were. His spider sense blazed; he jumped up to avoid the clump of sand rush under him. His spider-sense blazed again and he leaned forward to avoid the scorpion's fist. Unluckily for Peter, none of the students had reached the buses and/ or the cars, and looked over at Peter because of the ruckus he was making. He heard many loud gasps and quiet ones; he especially heard Gwe when she gasped. Peter had had enough. "I'm tired of hiding! Why hide when they already know! The teachers can't see what's going and the bus drivers can't too!" Peter thought while still dodging the blows being thrown at him. And he decided. Peter, always having his web-shooters with him, shot two webs up to the edge of the school roof and flung his self up. He did a front flip and landed on the roof. He didn't hear a car or bus leave, instead he heard a couple people clapping and heard more gasps. Peter ducked out of sight and very quickly got into spider-gear, placing his clothes in his backpack and leaving it up there. He stood up and faced the Sandman and the Scorpion. He heard more claps as people saw the person they idolized.

"Alright, now, why don't you come get me?" Peter said taunting them.

* * *

The Scorpion growled at Spider-man, who stood on the school roof, taunting his two adversaries, the Scorpion and the Sandman.

The Scorpion began to charge at the building. Spider-man shot a web in his face, knowing that the Scorpion would wreck the building. Sand flew towards him. He dodged it by turning to the right, but the sand did a sharp u-turn, hitting Spider-man with a lot of force. He landed on his back and groaned.

He heard the students in the area gasp with horror, some cheered him on. Spider-man, still on his back, knew that the Scorpion was running towards him from his spider-sense. He went into his usual crouching stance. As he drew closer, Spider-man shot two webs towards the charging monster. The webs attached to the Scorpion's chest.

Spider-man took this chance to fling himself toward him. He kicked the green man square on, stopping him and stunned him for a second. Spider-man stood sideways, his feet sticking to his chest, punching the Scorpion repeatedly in the face.

He jumped off the dazed green monster and did a backflip, landing on his feet. He heard the students cheer again.

His spider-sense blazed again.

"Spider-man, look out!" A girl screamed, even though it was pointless to warn him.

The Scorpion charged again, and the Sandman was flying towards him, his sand hardened to the hardness of a rock.

Spider-man instantly thought of old movies where two guys would run to tackle one enemy, and the guy in the middle would jump to have the two doofuses bump into each other. Which is exactly what Spider-man did.

The impact mainly hurt the Scorpion. Spider-man did a few backflips, front flips, and twirls for fun in the warm air, and then he faced toward and shot a web net around the two.

He knew it wouldn't do much good against the Sandman, but it would hold the Scorpion for a few seconds.

Police sirens were heard from a distance.

The Scorpion yelled, just tearing the web off of him.

"NO! I need to finish this!" Spider-man thought, but the Scorpion and the Sandman were already fleeing. He tried to catch them with a huge web. The Sandman went right through it, and it only slowed the Scorpion for a few seconds.

The police drew closer.

Spider-man swiftly climbed up the roof, grabbed his things, and jumped back down. He faced the still standing students, put a finger to his lips, trying to tell them not to tell.

He then ran to a neighboring skyscraper, shot a web to it, swung once around it, then turned back toward the school, heading right for Gwen. She couldn't help but smile.

"N-no, Peter, no." She stuttered as he got closer, waving her hands. He gently scooped her up.

"Peter!" She shouted, laughing, and loud enough for the school students to hear as they watched them swing away.

* * *

Peter had dropped Gwen off at her house; he went to school the day after the events with the Scorpion and the Sandman. The police wanted to have an investigation of the matter and canceled school.

When he went into the building, he got even more stares, but people didn't avoid him. People talked to him, a lot. A large amount of them, mostly girls, said he was soo cool, and they wanted a picture with him, or an autograph. And of course, they asked how he got his powers which he always answered with, "It's complicated."

Gwen was with him the whole day, unless they had different classes, and helped him with everyone trying to talk to him.

At the end of school hours, he walked down the sidewalk in the direction of his house.

Two students stopped him and asked if he could take him home. Peter was a little annoyed,but he politely replied.

"Sorry, but I can't carry two people, and I don't really know you two."

Awww was their response.

Peter continued to walk down the sidewalk and turned into an alley. Spider-man flew out, his backpack hanging on his shoulder, and he swung towards home.

He looked around to see if their were any criminals, and of course, there was.

Spider-man shot one that was running down the street away from the cops.

He saw a couple more in alleys beating a poor soul up;he went straight in there and came out in a minute.

He didn't see anymore though, criminals were more active in the night.

He swung into an alley on an almost barren street and walked the rest of the way home as Peter Parker.

An ambulance sped by in the direction of his house.

"No, no, no! Please!" Peter thought, only to be even more panicked when the ambulance turned to the left. His house was on that street.

Peter ran as fast as he could. Earning a few stares from the people around him. He is faster than the average human.

When he turned at the corner, he saw his house, surrounded by paramedics, and Aunt May being loaded onto the ambulance.

* * *

Peter waited outside of Aunt May's room in the hospital. He looked at his watch and saw he had been waiting for 45 minutes.

He grew more tense, hoping Aunt May was alright. He had always hated hospitals. There was always a lot of tension in the air, and people died here. He shook his head violently at the thought of death.

"Aunt May isn't going to die!" He shouted to himself.

A male doctor came out of the room and turned to Peter, who stood up.

"You're Peter, correct?"

"Y-Yeah." Peter was nervous if the news was good or bad.

"Do you know what happened?"

"No, I got home when she was being l-loaded into the ambulance."

"That's a shame. I wish I knew what happened," the doctor's face grew sad, "I'm... afraid.. you're Aunt... is in a coma." It hit Peter like a boulder had fell on him and crushed him to nothing.

"H-H-How?" Peter struggled to speak.

"Some of her organs were severely damaged. I'm guessing someone had beaten her up and left her for dead. Her injuries show that this happened awhile ago. It's a good thing someone had called the police."

"Who called them?" Peter tried hard to get the words out.

"We don't know. The police just found her in the house after they were called. We've been trying to find the person to get the story, but so far, no luck." Peter was about to explode with rage. He had a pretty good idea of who did this, but he held his anger in and asked the doctor one more question.

"How long do you think she'll be in a coma?"

"Like any case with a coma, we're not sure. It could be weeks, a month, or a year. But, from my view, I'd say 3 months. But that's just an estimation. There's no real way to know." peter gravely nodded, biting his lip to hold in all of his anger and sadness.

"Do you have a friend you can stay with?" Peter nodded again. "Okay, then I suggest you go there. Can I have your phone number?" He nodded again, really not feeling like he could talk anymore, and gave the doctor his number.

"We'll call you if anything happens. Now you should go, it's getting late." Peter nodded and walked away. The moment the cool night air hit his face like a whip, he ran into an alley, went to the roof, changed into his costume, and swung away determined to get revenge.

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**Hope you enjoyed and please review!**


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